The Voice of CPAs

By David F. Veyna, CPA

By the time you read this newsletter, the elections will be over and, I hope, the results will be final with no hanging chads or ballot boxes floating in the Bay.

I don’t know about you, but I am glad this process is finally done. We now have our new leaders and regardless of whether or not we voted for them, they are our representatives and they work for us. It is our responsibility to make sure that they are informed and know how we feel about the issues that affect our country, state, community and profession. I hope you didn’t think that all you had to do was vote, and that once elected, our politicians would automatically make everything better. I believe our elected representatives have good hearts and want what is best for their constituents. But like any of us, they can become misinformed and make bad decisions based on bad information.

What can we do?
Being a CalCPA member and supporting CPA-PAC is a great start. CPA-PAC is CalCPA’s independent, voluntary, nonprofit political action arm that supports candidates, regardless of their political affiliation, based on their ability to make a difference for California CPAs and businesses.

I suggest that you communicate with your representatives and keep them informed about the issues that affect you and the profession. As CPAs, we need to make sure our representatives support initiatives that will enhance our ability to serve our clients or employers. This communication can be done in many ways, but the most effective way is to meet your representative face to face. Take advantage of a tremendous opportunity to do so Jan. 21, by joining other CalCPA members for CalCPA Day at the Capitol when you can meet with local representatives to discuss current issues.

You also can get involved with our Financial Literacy program. CalCPA’s Dollars & Sense workshops provide the opportunity to partner with local legislators and community leaders to improve financial literacy by educating the public on how to better manage money, improve savings and investment strategies, and save on taxes. Recent economic events should have driven home the importance of proper money management, and, as CPAs, we are best fit to provide that education.

Lastly, encourage your colleagues and staff to take these actions as well. It is much easier to effect change when we work together.

— David F. Veyna, CPA

This entry was posted on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 1:47 pm and is filed under President's Message. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.